Toy house



A. F. WEGENERY TOY HOUSE. APPLICATION FIL ED SEPT- 24, I921- l,428,405. Patentedsept. 5, 1922.

Patented Sept. 5, 1922.

AI iGUs'r r'. WEGENER, 'or a ewooa w JERSEY.-

TOY HOUSE;

1' Application filed September 24, 1921. Serial .No. 502,842. a

To aZ Z w homit ma t concern: p .Be it known that 1,;Aueusr F. WEGENER,

a citizen of theUnitedfitates,residing at Ridgewood," in the county ofBergen and State of New, Jersey, haverinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Houses, of which'the following is a specification.

This I invention relates to toy buildings, and especially to such structures as are adapted for beingreadily set up or erected and subsequently knocked:{clown or collapsed by any child, a house madeiin accordance with' this invention being capable- 0f affording practi oally unlimited v amusement to the child as well as aconsiderable range of instruction to the child. 1

inakeit, difficult for setting up is avoided.

,Another object of theinvention is toprovide a foldable orzcollapsible toy building, so designed, and arranged that the roof and foundation portions of the structure constitute' a substantial protecting covering for the other parts'when collapsed. i

setup in a neat andsubstantially rigid form withoutrequiring the use of any extraneous fastening means, suc'h as pins, mucila'ge, or

the like, and which after being erected may be -moved about readily as'a child may res quireywithout disturbing the set up condition of the parts. i l f NVith; the foregoing and other objects in viewthe invention consists in the arrangement and combinationof parts hereinafter members. 19 and 2Q- +for each side of the described and claimed, and whilethe invention is not'restricted to the exact detailsof practical embodiment thereof reference is had 1 to the accompanying" drawings, in which'like reference characters designate the'same parts inthe several-views, and in-v els are notched at22 for co-operatlon with which .Figure'l is-a perspective view showing a preferred formof atoy house made in accordance with; this invention.

elow-H,

, the bottom panels lllie in the at-16, -The upper ends of the gables will be shaped in accordance with thedesig'n-of A stillfurther object ofthe invention is, to provide astoy building which may bethesame. 3 is a'vie -of the-house collapsed. Fig, 4 is a detail ofgthejoint described,

Referring now specifically/to the drawingsl; provide a vertical wall or panel F ig. 2 isa vertical transverse section of 10 which maybe regardedas the backbone of the structure,l%the same extending all the way from the base or foundation to and above thetopof the building. To the I 1 lower end of the center wall panel, 10 are secured the two foundation or basepanels 11:. These-panels 11 maybe fromfiasinglei rectangular sheet; of strawboardor its equiv- .alent'prov ded with two parallel scores 12,

relatively close together,:and hinged at 13 to both sides;.of the'lowe'r end of the panel 10 so astoefold upward relatively to said panel 10. When the building is erected same horizontalplane.

Eachend. of the building'comprises two vertical gable panels 14,;whiohlike the base, panels 11 may be made from a singlesheet of material scored along the two lines, 15, or may be made of two separate panels, be-1 ing hinged on the, inside to the adjacent vertical edge of the panel 10 as indicated the roof struoture, and thetwopanels at eachendl are adapted to fold inward toward the opposite 'sidesjofythe center panel.. To

the .free; edge Of :each' gable panel is, attached or' hasformedintegraligtherewith acorner piece-1? constituting an angle meniber' scored; ,or hinged so asto either "lie flat; when, folded or stand at right angles to eumain p r ion of he n pa e w erected,g the :hinge being"; indicated at; 18.1

Anydesired number of floor pieces-may be provided,but ,IHindioate two ,of such center :panel, thereby: constituting a four 7 room building in addition to the attic space :ed to fold ,downwardgdirectly against the" same." The; freejporti ons. of the floor pansimilar notches 23 formed in the corner pieces 17 for interlockingcooperation between the floor panels and said corner 11ov pieces. Thus the end panels 14 lie against the ends of the floor panels and are secured in said position by the interlocking of the parts aforesaid. The end panels 14 are so hinged together and to the center panel as to resist to a certain extent the swinging outward thereof away from the floor panels. Hence with a reasonable degree of friction at the notched portions of said Jpiarts there is no danger of the parts moving or swinging relatively unless the end panels are sprung outward from the floor panels to disengage the notched portions.

In fol ling, the floor panels 1 9 and'20 after being released from the end panels are dropped downward flat against the center panel," covering thereby practically all of both faces of the center panel up to'the hinges of the "upper panels, it being noted that the height and depth'of each room is preferably one half of the width of the center panel or length of a room; The end panels are then fo'lded'inward against the upper surfaces of the four floor panels.

ornamental parts which I furnish with the fact that the hinges 5250f the roof panelstoy buildings in-sheet form with instructions for cutting out by the children, but which are not shown herewith since they do not constitute any part of the building. roof panels 2 1, as well as the base panels 11, fold inward flat against the outer-surfaceof the end panels 14 in collapsed form, and while the roof and base panels for the best appearance extend well beyond the other parts when erected, yet when folded they substantially meet each other, due to the are above the upper floor plane far enough to accommodate these parts. Hence the base and roof members constitute protecting covers for the other parts when collapsed. That portion ofthe center panel 21 between the hinges 25 and the hinges 21 of the floor panels 20 is reinforced by two plates 26 and 27, the former being rectangular and fixed directly against the center panel while the plates27 are substantially triangular to conform to the space between the beveled upper ends of the end panels 14 when folded. Thus the center panelis reinforced, and incidentally there are left practically no hollow spaces in the structure when folded, re-

ducing thereby the likelihood of breaking or otherwise damaging the building when collapsed,

It will thus appear that I have provided a unitary toy building adapted to be readily set up orknocked down, the same being of the cheapest possible design, enabling it to be put on the market at such low price as to bring it within the reach of almost all children', and moreover a structure which is susceptible of easy and pleasing decorative possibilities. For example while I have indicated a building comprising four rooms plus attic space, all of the rooms may be deco rated differently so as to establish inthe mind of the child the various uses for which the several rooms maybe adapted, thereby not only pleasing the child but teaching'it to observe color harmonies or the like. Also the cut-out feature above referred to may include furniture for the several rooms, as

well as window, door,or other 'stru'ctural'or ornamental details.

I claim:

1. A toy building comprising a roof, a base, a vertical wall panel, means to pivotally connect "the roof and base members to said panel, other wall panels, a fflOOI panel pivoted to the first mentioned wall panel and movable into horizontal p osition between said other wall panels, and means to fasten said other wall panels andSfioor panel in fixed position for holding thereof and base members and wall panels from pivotal movement when the building is set up.

'2.'A toy building coin rising a base, an interior wall panel movab y connected tothe base,-a roof'm'ova'bly connected to the upper portion of said wall panel, end wall panels movably connected to the opposite remote vertical edges of the interior wa-ll'panel, and means acting between said wall panels to hold the aforesaid parts from relative movement when the building is set up.

3. A toy building comprising a central vertical panel, two roof members pivotally connected to opposite sides of the central panel, end wall panels pivotally connected to the vertical 'edgesof the said central panel and movable with respect thereto on opposite sides of the central panel, and pairs of floor panels one above another movably connected to opposite sides 'of'the central panel and c'o-operating with the end wall panels to hold all the parts 'in set up position.

4. A foldable toy building comprising a main vertical panel, roof, base, and wall panels, each of the last mentioned panels being hinged directly tothe main vertical panel and so'is foldable'tow-ard it, :and also a floor panel between the roof and base panels and likewise hinged directly :to the main vertical panel.

:5. In a toy house, the combination of 'a main vertical panel, a roof panel movably connected thereto, a plurality of parallel which the floor panels swing downward fiat against the first mentioned main panel, the end walls swing against the upper surfaces of the floor panels, and the roof swings downward against the outer surfaces of the end wall panels. r I

7 A'foldable toy building comprisinga main vertical panel, and roof, base, wall, and floor panels all permanently hinged directly to said main panel and so, foldable that the roof and base panels constitute a cover for 20 all the other panels.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

. 1 AUGUST F. WEGENER. 

